Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information ... - Clover

<strong>Silicon</strong> <strong>Snake</strong> <strong>Oil</strong>: <strong>Second</strong> <strong>Thoughts</strong> on the Information Highway
by Clifford Stoll
New York: Anchor, 1995
Reviewed by David W. Gill www.ethixbiz.com
Clifford Stoll describes himself as "an astronomer, computer jock, and weekend plumber" in Oakland
California. He was also one of the pioneers of the Internet, but now is a bit of a "backslider" whose
"second thoughts on the information super highway" are a valuable counterpoint the euphoria of authors
like Nicholas Negroponte and Bill Gates. No doubt, Stoll, writes, the Internet has its challenging, fun, and
useful side. But what is the price? What are we trading off to get on this highway? Stoll argues that the
medium is being oversold and that there is too little critical discussion.
What are the problems that Stoll sees? First, a great deal of time is demanded just to keep up with one's
e-mail, chat groups, and Internet explorations. Little Internet information is genuinely useful and what is
there is often a distraction from reality. Life on the Internet is passive rather than active; computer
networks isolate us from one another, cheapen the meaning of actual experience, work against literacy
and reality, and undercut our schools and libraries. Schools are being sold down the networked river,
induced to "spend way too much on technological gimmicks that teachers don't want and students don't
need" (p. 11).
"Few aspects of daily life require computers, digital networks, or massive connectivity" (p. 10). Stoll
gives long lists of such important non-computer activities: baking bread, curling up wth a good novel, and
hanging out with friends. He quotes Thoreau's famous comment in Walden: "Our inventions are wont to
be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an
unimproved end" (p.15).
Despite contrary claims, in reality the Internet is painfully slow (especially during business hours). Just as
all highway building has led to more traffic congestion, bandwidth expansions are doomed to be forever
glutted with as much or more traffic than they can possibly bear (pp. 206-7). And the equipment itself is
not at all perfectly reliable: "I spend almost as much time figuring out what's wrong with my computer as I
do actually using it" (p. 3)
More than its inefficiency, the abysmal quality of information on the Internet is Stoll's frequent refrain:
"Look at the detritus, dross, and dreck sold on the television home-shopping channels"(p. 18): the same
will be available on the computer shopping network. A 500 channel cable system will surely deliver
"unfathomable and boundless mediocrity" (p. 21). "Instead of an Internet-inspired renaissance, mediocre
writing and poorly-thought-out arguments roll into my modem (p. 26). The Internet is a great medium for
trivia and hobbies, but not for reasoned reflective judgment or true creativity. Data, information,
knowledge, understanding, and wisdom are different things. The Internet provides mountains of data,
some information, a little knowledge and understanding, but no wisdom. Educators are falling for a bogus
promise when they invest in computers instead of teachers and books (pp. 130ff). Scarce resources are
being wasted, the information gained is of doubtful value, and true creativity is stifled rather than
unleashed. "Creative people are ill-adapted for survival around computers. . . the medium in which we
communicate changes how we organize our thoughts. We program computers, but the computers also
program us" (46). Creativity is confined within narrow boundaries established by the medium itself.
Interpersonal relationships and communication are also harmed at least as much as helped by the
Internet. "Anonymity and untraceability seem to bring out the worst in people" (p. 57). Computer
networks isolate us from one another, rather than bring us together. "Electronic communication is an
instantaneous and illusory contact that creates a sense of intimacy without the emoional investment that
leads to close friendships. (p. 24).

"The key ingredient of their silicon snake oil is a technocratic belief that computers and networks will
make a better society. Access to information, better communications, and electronic programs can cure
social problems . . . [But] access to a universe of information cannot solve our problems: we will forever
struggle to understand one another. The most important interactions in life happen between people, not
between computers" (p. 50).
It is important to recall, of course, that anonymous hate messages are already enabled by conventional
mail and telephone calls, and that pounds of unsolicited junk mail are accompanied by daily telemarketing
intruders. But Stoll has written a very important book, whose credibility and persuasiveness is multiplied
by his experience with the Internet and by the fact that he "has a life"---in sharp contrast to the sterile,
narrow existence reflected in most computer nerd tracts